


Independence

by Tawny



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Character Development, Growing Up, Humanverse, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Rating and tags subject to change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-14
Updated: 2013-05-14
Packaged: 2017-12-11 21:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/803553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tawny/pseuds/Tawny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur Kirkland had always grown up as somewhat of a recluse. His mother had always been more interested in his grades than she had been in his actual life. He felt disconnected, and isolated, but that was alright. He rather liked it that way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Independence

Arthur Kirkland wasn't like other children. Looking around, he was rather glad he wasn't. Most of them, the ones older than him anyway, looked like they were on some drug or other. Instead of playing with the boys his age when his mother made him go outside (this was necessary because if she didn't, she believed he would simply waste away in his room. This wasn't far from the truth), Arthur preferred to sit on his front steps and play with a toy pirate ship. Except, it wasn't really a toy, it was a really expensive model. And he didn't have any pirate figurines, so the Power Rangers toys his Aunt Bea had bought him for his birthday one year would suit him just as well.

The kids across the street were playing baseball, a sport that Arthur felt great distaste for. Honestly, he hated sports of all kinds.

 _CRACK!_ He jumped, looking up just in time to see a ball go soaring. "Sports are lousy," he mumbled to himself as he moved the arm of the blue action figure, distorting his voice. Reaching over to grab another- the red one- he held them both up and made his voice deeper. "Lousy, stupid and dumb." Feeling overwhelmed, he put them both down by the ship, gently picking up the pink one. "And loud!" he said, in a rather feminine voice.

He cast his eyes towards the shore, which was a long ways away, but still visible over the tops of the trees in the distance. He caught a glimpse of nothing more than an ordinary common parasail boat, but he swore it was a great ship. Forgetting he was supposed to be voicing a girl, he sighed and mumbled, "Who needs sports or school, or anything else... I'd rather be a pirate."

He watched the boat until it disappeared along the horizon, and stood up. "I'd rather be a pirate," he said again with resign, and knelt down to tuck his ship under his arm. It was hot out, and he wanted to go in.

Taking care to shut the door tightly behind him, he shot up the stairs and locked his door behind him. His walls were covered in so many pinned up drawings and posters, it was really hard to even notice the blue paint underneath. For a ten year old (though if you asked him, he would say ten-and-fourteen-sixteenths), the kindergarten through fourth grade diplomas pinned to the wall under his shelf were kind of a big deal.

He plopped down on his bed, holding the pirate ship in his lap. As mentioned earlier, it was far from a playtoy. It was a ship that was actually modeled after a really famous pirate ship, the Santa Maria. Okay, that wasn't a pirate ship. But real sailors sailed on it. Real sea-farers! This ship should've been shelved with a glass case. Arthur just took care of it, and in his mind, such a great ship souldn't be set aside to collect dust. 

"Arthur!" He groaned. "Arthur, come down to dinner." He placed his ship on the side table and took his time trudging to the door. He wasn't hungry, but it _did_ smell good.

When he finally got into the kitchen, his mother handed him a bowl and headed to the living room, nagging at him with her usual rant.

"How come you never come out of your room? If someone were to give us company, they'd think I'd never had a son! Why don't you ever go play with anyone? It's not healthy, Arthur. Arthur. Arthur, are you listening to me? When I was your age..." By now, he'd stopped paying attention, focusing more on mashing a steamed carrot with his fork. he'd heard it all before. She was upset and motherly and worried, but Arthur wasn't worried, not in the slightest bit. It wasn't like his mum would go to any of his games, were he in a sport. Or any concerts, were he to join the boys' choir. Or band. He liked music, and rather enjoyed singing, but he refused to sing in front of people. Arthur's problem was that if something involved social interaction, it would take a little bit more than a court order to get him to participate. His mum called him shy; he really just hated almost literally every human being on the planet we call Earth.

"Did you hear me?" She set her spoon in the bowl loudly. "I'm going to have you put into after-school activities if you don't make some friends." Arthur remained silent. His mother had finished her food, he hadn't taken more than two bites.

At that moment, Arthur decided he wouldn't say another word. It was stubborn, yes, but if she wanted to enforce his social blooming, he'd snuff that out with his own silence. He ignored anything his mum had said, finished his food, took his bowl to the kitchen and stalked upstairs. Once inside his room, he grabbed a school book that was maybe four grades below his level, curled up in bed, and fell asleep reading the stupid book for the four thousandth time.

It wasn't fair. Why couldn't people just leave him alone..?


End file.
